That's true, the Confederate flag is pretty sharp.

I've seen these bags all over the place for the past year or so, but had never known where to get them until today, when I happened across "Super Star" in Old Downtown.




They feature what is commonly known as "The Confederate Flag," a symbol of the Confederate States of America, although Wikipedia points out that that particular design was never an official flag of the short-lived nation. Highly unlikely that anybody here knows what that flag is, or what it represents, but it's still troublesome all the same. I don't think it should fly over government offices, and I don't think it should be in the hands of Korean middle school students. Wikipedia has a little more:

The display of the Confederate flag remains a highly controversial and emotional topic, generally because of disagreement over the nature of its symbolism. Opponents of the Confederate flag see it as an overt symbol of racism, both for the history of racial slavery in the United States, and the establishment of Jim Crow laws by Southern states following the end of Reconstruction in late 1870s, enforcing racial segregation within state borders for nearly a century until the Civil Rights Movement.

. . .

White southerners often see the flag as merely a symbol of southern culture, a "country music flag" without any political or racial connotation. An example of this would be the Bocephus Rebel Flag often sold at concerts performed by country music star Hank Williams, Jr., and southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd. For some, the flag represents only a past era of southern sovereignty. Some historical societies such as the Sons of Confederate Veterans and the United Daughters of the Confederacy also use the flag as part of their symbols. Also rockabilly fans hold the Confederate flag as their emblem. The flag has also been used as a symbol of generalized working-class masculinity, suggesting rowdy rebelliousness, and detached from any intended historical, Southern regional, or racial significance, although almost always in a white context, such as construction workers in Montreal.

As a result of these varying perceptions, there have been a number of political controversies surrounding the use of the Confederate flag in Southern state flags, at sporting events, at Southern universities, and on public buildings. According to Civil War historian and native Southerner Shelby Foote, the flag traditionally represented the South's resistance to Northern political dominance; it became racially charged during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s, when fighting against desegregation suddenly became the focal point of that resistance.

The bags say "Icekeki," which I thnk is a clothing line, and must be available at a bunch of different stores, because I don't think bags from a little out-of-the-way boutique in Suncheon would turn up in other cities like Gwangju.